£13 million government cash for parks

Communities secretary James Brokenshire has offered £13 million to councils to support existing and create new parks and green spaces.

Of the funding, £9.7 million will go towards better maintaining, protecting, and increasing recreational areas.

Brokenshire said £2.75 million would be made available for the pocket parks plus programme, which aims to support communities in transforming rundown and derelict spaces. The National Trust and the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Future Parks Accelerator initiative will receive £1.2 million. The partnership supports local authorities to test new and innovative approaches to managing and funding parks.

Brokenshire said: “Our parks and green spaces are huge assets to our towns and cities, offering precious spaces for all of us to get together, to exercise and to play.

“This latest funding will support bold proposals to help renovate and restore existing parks and create new vibrant, safe green spaces for our communities. The future of our nation’s parks is an issue close to all our hearts and we will do all we can to preserve these vital green lungs that breathe life into our communities.”

The government said the funding builds on work it has already done, including the creation of a £1 million ‘pocket parks’ fund to help communities transform neglected and derelict spaces and establish more than 80 new green spaces in urban areas across the country.

It added that it would continue to work with the Parks Action Group, which represents leaders from across the parks sector, to help ensure that current and future generations can continue to access safe, high-quality local parks.